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            <p class="center"><img src="banner_2025media.jpg" alt="2025 Media Log" class="curved"></p>
            <h2 id="top">Page updated: 2 June 2025</h2>
            <p>Self-explanatory title! Trying to do one of these and chronicling my descent into somehow consuming only children's media at age 25. Who knows if I'll remember to update throughout the year, though.</p>
            <p>Newest entries are at the top!</b></p>
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            <h2 id="DigimonAdventure">Digimon Adventure (1999)</h2>
            <p>Currently watching...</p>
            <p class="center"><img src="img2025/digimonadventure.jpg" alt="Koromon chugging a soda can"></p>
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            <h2 id="Spyro2Reignited">Spyro Reignited Trilogy (2018) - Ripto's Rage</h2>
            <p>Completed: June 2</p>
            <p>I originally completed Spyro 1 in the Reignited Trilogy a few years back, and I'm just getting back into playing it again. I had started Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon, but hadn't actually felt like clearing them... til now!</p>
            <p>I had the PS1 collector's edition as a kid, so I'm still very familiar with the games from countless hours I spent with them in the 2000s -- these games and the secrets in them are literally burned into my mind. As such, I've been going for 100% completion in all 3 games!</p>
            <p class="center"><img src="img2025/spyro2.jpg" alt="100% completion on Ripto's Rage"></p>
            <p>For Ripto's Rage, I had actually left off at the beginning of Autumn Plains, already having completed everything for Summer Forest. I honestly felt like this game is easier in the Reignited Trilogy...?? Maybe I just have more 1337 gamer skillz than I did as a child (likely), but things that I used to struggle with like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96WX35MMg8g">that goddamned trolley</a> or the speedways felt reeeally easy here. The only thing that felt significantly harder was Gulp -- I don't remember struggling with him nearly as much in the OG game.</p>
            <p>Other than that, I think this is a fine way to experience the game and I had no issues hitting 100% here -- some of the character redesigns are fucking hideous and weird though, and aesthetically it just feels... weird compared to the PS1 originals, I don't know how to describe it. I also thankfully didn't have any FPS-related issues like Spyro 1 (Magic Crafters worlds bug the hell at 60 FPS or higher, to the point where it's unplayable unless you cap your FPS).</p>
            <p>Side note -- Winter Tundra is by far my favourite hub world here, and I have really distinct memories of it and its little secret areas. I think I just vibe with the dark, snowy aesthetic of it -- Midnight Mountain in the third game has a similar sorta vibe and I also have super fond memories of that world.</p>
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            <h2 id="DigimonWorldDS">Digimon World DS (2006) - Post-game content</h2>
            <p>Completed: May 31</p>
            <p>I'll be real with you: I hadn't been playing to go back to this at all, but I was watching videos late at night one day and stumbled upon this video titled<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IELreUnT0gc">"Do You Remember Digimon World DS?" by Echonox</a>, which inspired me to look up what I missed for post-game content.</p>
            <p>The main thing that I know opens up once you clear the main story is the Seven Demon Lords quest, which you have to unlock by collecting 15 mega Digimon and also completing a specific farm quest, which I never felt like doing so I just... didn't.</p>
            <p>(For context, I cleared Digimon World DS last year after being reminded that Digimon exists at all, and I somehow cleared it overnight in a 10 hour frenzy on a long weekend back in September. This burned me out immensely LOL and I had a lot of stuff that I didn't like or found weird, so I never did any of the post-game stuff.)</p>
            <p>Anyway, I was looking through someone's 7DL quest video when I noticed some very interesting lines from Lucemon:</p>
            <p class="center">
                <img src="img2025/digimonworldds_company1.jpg" alt="Lucemon CM: Now, come to the Core Field.">
                <img src="img2025/digimonworldds_company2.jpg" alt="Lucemon CM: I'll kindly keep you company...">
            </p>
            <p>And because I have severe, debilitating brainrot, I'll do anything I can to spend some quality time with Lucemon-sama, so of course I had to pick up my DS again for a round 2. I want him to keep me company...</p>
            <p>Anyway, I somehow ended putting in another 8ish hours into this game? Some notes for that:</p>
            <ul>
                <li>I actually had a lot of fun collecting and raising new Digimon! However, I will note: I do use cheats to boost EXP bc this would make me wanna die otherwise.</li>
                <li>There's a lot of re-exploring maps when you're going to fight the 7DL, so I actually used the random encounters to farm EXP and train my entire team to aptitude 99! So that was cool.</li>
                <li>When I made it to the Core Field for Luce, I didn't know how to leave after the fight, so I just kept walking and it took me to the end of the map, where I found out you can rematch Chronomon??</li>
                <li>He was actually weirdly really high level so he was actually a decent fight, and I found out for literally the first time ever that you can actually get his scan data this way. I HAD NO IDEA. He comes as apt 99 by default, but unfortunately his stats are kinda ass compared to any other apt 99 Digimon you can train yourself.</li>
                <li>I encountered a rare bug where your Digimon will sometimes have their stats reset to almost 0 when levelling up -_- My Seraphimon, who I had just gotten to apt 99, was victim to this, and because I noticed too late I could not save him by resetting, so he was permanently retired to the farm. RIP</li>
                <li>The Culumon you get for completing the 7DL quest is unironically probably the best free scan you get in the game, he's weirdly OP as fuck compared to Chronomon and Beelzebumon who get stuck with mid stats.</li>
            </ul>
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            <h2 id="DualRulers">Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers (2025)</h2>
            <p>Completed: May 24</p>
            <p>Jesus christ this sucked ass. I hated it from the beginning because the pacing was wack and wayyyy too fast, they had way too much going on, and they didn't even bother to animate half the time. Like, there were some parts especially near the end where they were just doing slideshows of the characters doing stuff, and... it was just fucking weird. I watched this with my partner and I think we somehow managed to predict almost every plot point (except for the truly nonsense, out of left field ones) by the second episode lmao.</p>
            <p>The last episode was kinda cool though, albeit poorly executed, and I think it's really funny that every pseudo-romantic interest they've ever given Sin is a relative of his in some way. I guess he really is royalty, huh?</p>
            <p>I know I shouldn't have expected much from a video game tie-in anime but god. GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They did show still frames of Asuka a few times though :)</p>
            <p class="center"><img src="img2025/dualrulers.jpg" alt="Frame of Asuka on Tir na Nog from Dual Rulers"></p>
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            <h2 id="DigimonMovie2000">Digimon: The Movie (2000)</h2>
            <p>Completed: May 17</p>
            <p>I randomly watched this while in a call one day, and god I think I could unironically watch this forever. I know this movie gets flack for being a weird amalgamation of 3 different short films/OVAs, but tbh the dubbing is great and soundtrack choices are crazy. It's honestly legendary, albeit dishonest to the originals (which I will view once I'm done with Adventure).</p>
            <p>I used to have this movie on VHS and the Angela Anaconda short still haunts me to this day. It's honestly really funny to look back on bc it really is a product of its time, the soundtrack is very of the time and was my introduction to Smash Mouth's iconic All Star, which a lot of people associate with Shrek. It's also really funny see the characters reference having dial-up internet and not being able to connect to the internet with the phone lines down -- it's SO dated now, but it's a really intriguing look back at how things used to be only 25 years ago.</p>
            <p class="center"><img src="img2025/digimonmovie.jpg" alt="Izzy working on a computer while Tai lays on the floor"></p>
            <p>The pilot OVA and Our War Game are def the highlights here, the 3rd movie is kinda meh (and also I still don't know anything about Adventure 02). Our War Game is particularly interesting to me now as I've now seen Summer Wars -- when I originally saw Summer Wars I thought "wow this reminds me of the Digimon movie", but this rewatch actually made me look into it and realise that Summer Wars is <i>very</i> reminiscent of Our War Game, apparently being from the same director. Hell, Summer Wars is pretty much the director's extended, full-length remake of Our War Game, minus the Digimon references and with a more original plot and characters instead, in addition to modern technology.</p>
            <p>When I saw the Proseka movie one of the ads before it mentioned that they're gonna be doing re-screenings of Mamoru Hosoda films, including Summer Wars, so I'll probably go see that if I remember (and if they actually end up doing it in Canada, anyway).</p>
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            <h2 id="DigimonSavers">Digimon Savers (2006)</h2>
            <p>Completed: May 12</p>
            <p>I really enjoyed this one, it's a huge step up after the disappointment that was Frontier and borrows a lot of great elements from Tamers. I like that the protagonists this time are teenagers and adults, it makes watching it a lot easier bc the characters are a bit more mature (though it's still a kids anime) and I'm not being forced to witness 5th grader drama all the time anymore.</p>
            <p>Also - Masaru is The protagonist ever, he's dumb as hell but it's in a funny way as opposed to an annoying way so I really like him.</p>
            <p class="center"><img src="img2025/digimonsavers.jpg" alt="Masaru getting a headpat from BanchoLeomon"></p>
            <p style="text-decoration: line-through;">Masaru is also kinda cute ngl</p>
            <p>I also watched the short film/OVA immediately after completing Savers, so:</p>
            <h2 id="DigimonSaversMovie">Digimon Savers: The Movie (2006)</h2>
            <p>AKA the "human girl kisses Agumon" movie. Very intriguing and quite cool for what it is.</p>
            <p>I don't really know what/where the relation to the original Savers is story-wise, but it's a very interesting short film/OVA(?) nonetheless with a super different vibe to the OG anime. The world here has a very dark, dull tone, and there's less of a focus on dialogue and more pure action, with said action being very detailed and much more in-depth than I think was ever seen in Savers.</p>
            <p class="center"><img src="img2025/digimonsavers_movie.jpg" alt="ShineGreymon fighting Argomon while Masaru and Rhythm watch"></p>
            <p>There's a really neat sense of scale here, and the scenes were ShineGreymon fights Argomon are cool as hell bc it's just 2 huge monsters duking it out, like some sort of kaiju battle.</p>
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            <h2 id="ProsekaMovie">Project Sekai: Kowareta SEKAI to Utaenai MIKU (2025)</h2>
            <p>Completed: May 11 (seen in theatres!)</p>
            <p>I heard this one was bad, so I was pleasantly surprised when I went and it was honestly fine. I think it would have benefited greatly if they just focused on one of the character groups (ie. just Leo/need) instead of trying to shoehorn all the characters in, but for what it is it's fine.</p>
            <p>The original songs did hurt me as a certified Deco*27 hater (almost all of them are by him, either fully or partially), but they were at least decent so I wasn't too bothered.</p>
            <p>The goal of the new Miku did make me self-reflect a little bit too -- she's trying to give hope to those who are giving up before they can complete or even <i>start</i> their creative passions, but they end up rejecting her harshly, usually bc they're afraid of failure. And man... I am one of those people. I'm sorry Miku-chan... I'll do better...</p>
            <p class="center"><img src="img2025/prosekamovie.jpg" alt="Miku staring through the monitor at an unnamed character trying to draw manga"></p>
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            <h2 id="MinecraftMovie">A Minecraft Movie (2025)</h2>
            <p>Completed: April 10</p>
            <p>LA-LA-LA-LAVA, CH-CH-CH-CHICKEN</p>
            <p>I find that a lot of children's media these days is extremely fast-paced, unmemorable crap, so the fact that Steve's Lava Chicken has been stuck in my head for months now should mean something.</p>
            <p>I saw this with my friends and we were all entertained, so it was good enough I guess?</p>
            <hr>
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            <h2 id="DigimonFrontier">Digimon Frontier (2002)</h2>
            <p>Started: January, currently unfinished, and tbh idk if I'll ever finish this one</p>
            <p>As a certified Lucemon Enjoyter(TM) I felt obligated to watch this, but yeah, the general consensus on this one was correct: Frontier sucks ass.</p>
            <p class="center"><img src="img2025/digimonfrontier_kouichi.jpg" alt="Kouchi: It's true."></p>
            <p>I had a friend in elementary school who was super into Frontier, but I personally could not get into it bc I could not get past the fact that instead of featuring humans befriending and raising their Digimon, they <i>become</i> the Digimon using the power of spirits. And yeah, I still dislike this as an adult. The end result of this ends up being that instead of character conflicts being centered around them trying to raise their Digimon, it's now just drama between 10 year olds and goddamn. I am too old for this.</p>
            <p>The execution here in general is just ass: there's so many conflicts that drag on for episodes and then have no meaningful ending, or just suddenly end with no acknowledgement of the fact <i>this shit just dragged on for 10 episodes</i>. For example, the kids spend like 10 episodes having their ass beat by Grottemon, then suddenly Junpei gets his beast spirit, beats him instantly, and then they just move on like nothing happened.</p>
            <p>And I feel like <i>all</i> the conflicts end up feeling like this -- there is never any real development between their losses and them finally winning, and so none of their wins feel deserved or even cool as a result. And I know it's stupid to nitpick given this is a 2002 children's anime, but FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK I HAVE NO LIFE AND I MUST RANT</p>
            <p>The fight with Lucemon is also not exempt from this problem either -- they spend like 3 whole eps getting their ass relentlessly beat by Luce, and even once Takuya and Kouji finally become Susanoomon, they only get one hit on him before he goes back to beating their ass. So they resort to some absolute bullshit out of nowhere, and then instantly proceed to win 💀 Like I cannot emphasise enough how underwhelming and undeserved EVERY victory in this show feels. THERE IS NO MEANINGFUL GROWTH FOR ANYONE RRRRRAAAAAGGHHHHH</p>
            <p>Anyway, some other thoughts:</p>
            <ul>
                <li>The episode I probably liked the most was episode 22, where Takuya flees back home after a horrifying defeat and has to find the courage and motivation to fight again</li>
                <li>Episode 19 was also fun albeit mostly filler, but this chef guy Digimon gets captured by Petaldramon to make him food, and so all the kids make their own burgers to try to appease Petaldramon and set the guy free</li>
                <li>Takuya and Kouji are pretty much the only characters who ever do anything, especially by the end they kinda just shove the rest of the cast aside and don't even bother giving them third/final evos, so everyone just ends up standing around and watching Takuya and Kouji fight lmfao</li>
                <li>I think if I had known about Kouchi like 15-20 years ago, I would've had the biggest fucking crush on him tbh. His ~dark and depressing~ backstory combined with him being a redeemed villain would've been suuuch a hit with child me LOL</li>
                <li>I always thought that Luce was a bit Dio-ish in terms of design, but tbh his Frontier portrayal really hammers it in. He's very reminiscent of OVA Dio in particular imo</li>
            </ul>
            <p>Anyway here's my fav bitch ♥♥♥</p>
            <p class="center">
                <img src="img2025/digimonfrontier_luce1.jpg" alt="Lucemon FM without his wings, looking like an asshole" width="300">
                <img src="img2025/digimonfrontier_luce2.jpg" alt="Lucemon: However, this time you will die." width="300">
                <img src="img2025/digimonfrontier_luce3.jpg" alt="Lucemon looks down in disappointment or perhaps dishust" width="300">
                <img src="img2025/digimonfrontier_luce4.jpg" alt="Lucemon: You really can't control them after all." width="300">
            </p>
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            <h2>Digimon Tamers</h2>
            <p>Completed: January 4</p>
            <p>Really neat watch that surprised me with how serious it gets about 2/3 the way in, and it starts to really make you think "wait, this is a kid's anime?" at some parts.</p>
            <p>Probably the best episodes for me are the one with Megidramon (episode 35) and the one where it's intersected with the news broadcast (44), both of which were directly written by Konaka Chiaki, who worked on Serial Experiments Lain, and it absolutely shows with the serious nature and surreal, unique direction.</p>
            <p>Konaka is actually responsible for a lot in Tamers, and it's honestly a very curious work that he's been done. He has a <a href="http://www.konaka.com/alice6/tamers/index.html">whole section dedicated to Tamers on his site</a> which is super cool, featuring a lot of extra lore and background for the series. Tamers actually gets a lot of flack for featuring Konaka's weird technobabble and "nonsense", which is hilarious to me given that's why people liked Lain. Is it because there's no "relatable" mentally ill, computer-obsessed girl to fetishise and obsess over here? Was his grim fantasy just not welcomed by the general Digimon community? Like in general, the most hate I've ever seen for Konaka is over Tamers, meanwhile everywhere else people wanna suck him off for Lain and TEXHNOLYZE.</p>
            <p>Anyway, if you're new to Digimon and would like to give any series a try, I definitely recommend Tamers as it's an insanely good starting point (hell, maybe even too good, bc I feel it def set my standards too high for everything else). I know some people actually hate it for how dark it gets, but personally I think that's part of the appeal and makes it feel like the characters actually have things at stake -- something to fight for.</p>
            <p class="center"><img src="img2025/digimontamers.jpg" alt="As you can see, the abnormal space keeps spreading gradually every day."></p>
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